


Let's Consider the Fallout (aka BP)

by Kizmet



Series: What If [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-07-30 00:18:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16275317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kizmet/pseuds/Kizmet
Summary: Most of the worst communication in BP seems to have happened in flashbacks.Why didn't anyone question T'Chaka's decision to abandon his nephew in the wilds of Oakland?Why didn't anyone other than M'Baku (in villainous mode) ever question putting a 16-year-old... Actually Shuri's not presented as new to her position, how old WAS she when she was put in charge of Wakanda's technological development?





	1. You Left Him WHERE!?!

**Author's Note:**

> This one’s going to be short. I’ve already poked fun of most the things that bothered me about BP in “Jedi Mind Tricks” and an advance society which is governed by an absolute monarch who can be replaced via ritual combat falls more under the category of “What the fuck?!?” rather than “Bad Communication”. 
> 
> The bad communication trope that irritates me and that inspired this series is the situation where bad communication drives the plot. CACW is a painful example of that, if Tony and Steve sat down and talked like adults it becomes a lot harder to justify the movie going forward. So, of course, there’s always something happening to prevent them from doing exactly that: Peggy dying. Steve’s tizzy over Wanda in Berlin. Sam’s nonsensical advice not to talk to Tony (or Rhodes or Natasha or Vision) before Leipzig… Or Steve deciding to sit on his knowledge of Howard and Maria’s murders for two years (even though he’s supposed to be a good man). 
> 
> But there’s also bad communication that is character driven. Tony gets accused of bad communication in CACW but Steve’s got his fingers in his ears going “La-la-la, I don’t want to hear your side. Now you listen to me!” so I sympathize with Tony running out of patience at the airport. In SM:H on the other hand… You’ve got two adults (Tony and Happy) who are not used to dealing with teenagers being totally ignorant of how Peter’s going to take them not regularly assuring him that they DO hear him. And you’ve got Peter, a teenager trying to prove himself, hiding his activities from adults who might stop him when he’s sure that if they just gave him a chance to show what he’s capable of they’d be impressed.
> 
> The bad communication in SM:H feels much more organic, it’s part of Tony’s learning curve on the whole mentoring thing and Peter being a teenager and rookie hero. The bad communication in CACW feels more like lazy writing, if Sam and Steve act like reasonable adults and let someone in position to help know about the problem they discovered… Well, then the fight at Leipzig could be totally avoided! No! No! We can’t have that! 
> 
> In the name of good communication it seems like someone, ANYONE should have told T’Chaka that abandoning Erik in the wilds of Oakland was both stupid and morally deficient… But it doesn’t feel contrived that the whole situation with Prince N’Jobu betraying Wakanda would be covered up and T’Chaka having feet of clay is a major plot element. Character driven not just plot convenience.

**1992**

T’Chaka finished relaying what had happened after he confronted N’Jobu with Wakanda’s knowledge of his treason.

For a moment the Council of Elders was silent, then the Merchant Tribe Representative asked, “Where is the boy?”

“What?” T’Chaka asked, confused.

“The boy. You mentioned that N’Jobu had a child with an outsider woman but neither your nor Zuri’s reports mention a woman?” The elder Councilor asked. “In who’s keeping did you leave the boy, your nephew?”

“Er… um… No one,” T’Chaka admitted.

Ramonda spoke up, “Husband, correct me if I heard wrong but you left your nine-year-old nephew with no one to turn to in OAKLAND!”

“I’ll turn right around and go get him?” T’Chaka said uncertainly.

“You do that,” Ramonda replied tartly.

* * *

 

**1997**

“N'Jadaka! Where are you going?” W’Kabi shouted as he ran to catch up with the younger teen.

“Erik,” the other boy corrected settling his backpack more solidly on to his shoulders. “And I’m leaving.”

“Are you crazy? Do you know what it’s like out there?” W’Kabi demanded.

“Better than here, watching everyone act like T’Chaka’s so benevolent! He murdered my father, his brother. He only took me in as a sop to his conscious.”

“Yeah, well it was your father who betrayed us and brought Ulysses Klaue here to kill _my parents_!” W’Kabi pointed out angrily.

“Do you know what it’s like out there?” Erik mimicked W’Kabi’s earlier question scornfully. “You all sit here, in all your luxury, ears plugged and eyes closed to all the suffering that goes on beyond your borders. My father was doing something about it.” Erik hesitated then more quietly he added, “My dad didn’t mean to hurt anyone here, just to force Wakanda to get involved.”

“I don’t care!” W’Kabi shouted back. “My parents are still dead…” He sighed, “And I suppose you don’t care why King T’Chaka killed your father either do you?”

Erik shook his head. “I’m not going to stay here and be his charity case, not after what he did.”

W’Kabi stepped back. He watched the other boy walk away, out into the scrubby hills that dominated Wakanda’s northern border.

* * *

 

**2016**

Everett Ross stood in front of a hologram of the man who’d appeared at Wakanda’s borders as he debriefed T’Challa, Okoye, Nakia, Ramonda and Shuri. “Erik Stevens. He disappeared from Oakland in 1992, eventually one of his teachers filed a missing persons report but it didn’t really draw any attention until he walked into an Aid Station in Ethiopia five years later claiming he had no idea how he got there. He tested out of high school and straight into Annapolis, finished his Bachelors at nineteen… MIT for grad school. Joined the SEALs and went straight to Afghanistan… where he wrapped up confirmed kills like it was a video game. They started calling him Killmonger. He joined a JSOC ghost unit. Now these guys are serious. They will drop off the grid… so they can commit assassinations and take down governments. Did he reveal anything about his identity?”

“He did not have to,” Shuri replied. “He’s my cousin, he was here the five years he was missing from your world.” 

* * *

“N'Jadaka chose the outside world over Wakanda the day he walked away,” one of the Council of Elders argued as they waited for Killmonger to be brought before them. “He has no place among us now.”

“I saw him in Seoul,” T’Challa replied. “There he was Klaue’s ally, the man who took him from my custody. Now he stands before us with Klaue’s body to lay at our feet? I would hear from his own mouth how this… Falling out between thieves came to be.”

As the doors swung open the Council became silent. They watched as W’Kabi and his fellow War Dogs brought in their chained prisoner.

“Speak,” T’Challa ordered in Xhosa.

“I've come home, bringing with me a serving of justice for a man who stole your vibranium and murdered your people,” Erik declared. “Justice your king couldn't deliver.”

“Justice for a crime that could not have been committed without your father’s betrayal of Wakanda,” T’Challa countered. “Justice that would have been delivered if not for your intervention in Seoul.”

“If it hadn’t been me, Klaue would have had someone else standing by to pull his fat outta the fire,” Erik said. “You think he evaded Wakanda for thirty years by being the careless sort?”

“You chose to leave Wakanda. What do you want, coming here now?” T’Challa demanded impatiently.

“I want the throne,” Erik declared boldly.

“Then you never should have left, Son of Prince N’Jobu,” The Elder of the Mining Tribe stated. “You threw away your Wakandan heritage.”

“I’d say I explored what else is out there,” Erik replied. “My father’s murderer put you on a path to reveal yourself to the world.” He jerked a thumb at T’Challa, “His antics in Bucharest gonna make it damn hard to keep up the poor, third world nation pretense much longer. He went toe to toe with Captain America and walked away without a scratch, you can bet people out there are analyzing that fight. Y’all so complacent that you think they’re not going to see that Wakanda has an answer to the Super Soldier Serum? Think they’re not going come looking for _that_ holy grail of bioengineering?”

Erik looked around and nodded to himself as he watched disquiet creep into the expressions of the Elders. He gestured to T’Challa again, “You want a hot-head kid like him to lead you back into the world? ‘Cause it’s too late to go back to hiding now. Or you want someone who knows the reality of what’s out there? There’s about two billion people all over the world that looks like us. But their lives are a lot harder. Wakanda has the tools to liberate 'em all.”

“And what tools are those?” T’Challa demanded.

“Vibranium. Your weapons,” Erik replied promptly. “And with their number ain’t nothing gonna stop us.”

“Our weapons will not be used to wage war on the world. It is not our way to be judge, jury and executioner for people who are not our own,” T’Challa replied. “You would know that if you had stayed.”

“Not your own? But didn't life start right here on this continent?” Erik asked. “So ain't all people your people?”

“I am not king of all people. I am king of Wakanda,” T’Challa declared. “And it is my responsibility to make sure our people are safe… and that vibranium does not fall into the hands of a person like you.”

“We have wasted enough time on this outsider,” Ramonda said, noting that Erik’s words weren’t going unheard. “Son, reject his request.”

“Is he an outsider?” the Elder of the River Tribe asked. “We of Wakanda have always kept an eye on the world beyond our borders. Has N’Jadaka done more than that?”

“We send adults,” the Elder of the Mining Tribe argued. “Secure in their knowledge of who and what they are. He was a boy, who had known Wakanda for only a short five years of his life. He is not one of us.”

“Not true,” Erik argued, speaking Xhosa for the first time before the Council, with the clarity and precision to equal anyone among the council. “Prince N’Jobu, my father, may not have raised me within Wakanda’s borders but he raised me in Wakanda’s traditions… From the day I was born to the day he died. And I'm exercising my blood right to challenge for the mantles of king… and Black Panther. My uncle, T’Chaka and his son, T’Challa, have led Wakanda to a precipse you can’t back away from but they don’t know how to take the leap. I do.”

The elder of the Border Tribe stood up, “Long have we who stand between Wakanda and the Outside questioned the wisdom of reunification. Allow the world into Wakanda’s borders and the World’s problems come in with it. Would it not be better to do as N’Jadaka implies and move Wakanda’s borders out instead? Is it not the world that should change, not Wakanda? N’Jadaka, son of Prince N’Jobu has the right to challenge, let him and King T’Challa prove the strength of their conviction in the traditional way of our people.”

“Do not do this, T'Challa,” Ramonda warned.

“The challenge will take weeks to prepare,” the Merchant Tribe’s Elder temporized.

“Weeks? I don't need weeks,” Erik replied. “The whole country ain't gotta be there. I just need him. And somebody to get me outta these chains.”

T’Challa turned to his mother, “I cannot deafen my ears to the doubts he has raised,” he told her. Then he stood to face Erik. “I accept your challenge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why I’m classifying Erik being abandoned as a bad communication thing: T’Chaka didn’t come to the US with the intention of covering up N’Jobu’s treason, he says: “You will return home at once where you will face the Council and inform them of your crimes.” N’Jobu's death is unintended, a reaction to N'Jobu pulling a gun when he realizes that his confident is another Wakanda spy. Up to this point everything seems above border, nothing that T’Chaka should _need_ to hide from Wakanda. 
> 
> So why DOES he decide to cover up N’Jobu’s death and Erik’s existence? T’Chaka wasn’t worried about political blow-back from his younger brother’s treason when N’Jobu was alive, why is he worried when he’s dead? Or is T’Chaka acting out of “My brother’s dead, why besmirch his memory?” 
> 
> The wiki character page states that Erik’s mother “was wrongfully incarcerated and died in prison”, I don’t have a clue where that comes from but it does seem to tally with the movie in that she doesn’t seem to have been around at the time of N’Jobu’s death. 
> 
> Does T’Chaka know that Erik’s mom isn’t around? I assume that Zuri was deep enough in N’Jobu’s confidence that he _should_ have known about the single parent thing. So maybe T’Chaka thinks he’s leaving Erik in his mother’s keeping or he doesn’t know about the kid at all. All he knows is that his brother is dead and a traitor. So he tells Zuri “Speak nothing of this.” Zuri assumes that T’Chaka does know all about the newly orphaned kid and while he’s never bringing up N’Jobu again, he also stays silent about Erik’s situation. So bad communication in Zuri thinking T’Chaka understands what they’re doing to Erik, T’Chaka is NOT well informed on his nephew’s situation and never gets informed while they’re all being ashamed that they couldn’t bring N’Jobu in without killing him. 
> 
> If the MCU really wanted to make N’Jobu and Erik sympathetic and T’Chaka the bad guy, they could have had N’Jobu become violent when T’Chaka tries to force him back to Wakanda without Erik, leading to his death. But they didn't.


	2. Let’s Nip this in the Bud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Black Panther pulls the same trick as CACW, having someone who’s being presented as a bad guy state an obvious truth to get the audience to dismiss it. When he’s challenging T’Challa, M’Baku says “We have watched with disgust as your technological advancements have been overseen by a child! Who scoffs at tradition!” So Shuri is a child by Wakandan standards (thank goodness, she’s 16) and with her attitude towards tradition she’s probably as respectful to her older peers in Wakanda as she is towards Bruce Banner in IW, but hey let’s just all ignore the real issues with a know-it-all teenager being put in a position of authority because the guy who’s pointing it out is being a jerk and opposing the protagonist.

**2012**

Shuri stomped into her family’s dining room, her pigtails bouncing angrily. “Daddy! You should make me Wakanda’s Chief of Technology,” she whined. “All my teachers are stupid old fuddy-duddies next to me!” 

T’Challa rolled his eyes and walked out, the last thing he was interested in hearing was one of his baby sister’s rants about how smart she was. _‘Shuri should have to suffer through all the lessons in diplomacy that Father inflicts on me,’_ the young man thought irritably. 

T’Chaka and Ramonda exchanged a look over their twelve-year-old daughter’s head. “Shuri, while no one is arguing against the evidence of your genius,” T’Chaka began in a conciliatory tone. “Perhaps you might acknowledge that your instructor’s experience far out weights your own.”

“Experience, hn!” Shuri huffed dismissively.

Ramonda frowned at her daughter, “Knowledge gained through first hand experience is not to be taken lightly and as long as you hold such a low opinion of the experts around you, you are completely unfit to hold any position of authority over them,” she said. “Shuri you are twelve. You evidenced a remarkable grasp of mathematics at three and could read at the level of an average thirteen-year-old when you were just short of your fifth birthday.”

Shuri preened a bit at that.

“Which means,” Ramonda continued. “That you have had a total of seven years in which to learn the basis of Wakanda’s technological development; the foundation upon which all your achievements will be built. Seven years to learn Wakanda’s history, and that of the world, so that you will not repeat the mistakes of your predecessors. Seven years to become knowledgeable of our literature, philosophy and governmental systems, to give you a framework to determine that which, perhaps, should not be done even if your genius does put it within your reach. And in those seven years you have taken a bit of time from your studies to practice your self-defense with Okoye everyday. You eat, you sleep, you sleep, you spend some time with friends although I think you could do more of the later. You absorb knowledge at an unmatched rate but it still requires time, more time than you’ve had, to be exposed to the information you will need to be successful.”

“I don’t need to know all the stupid stuff people learn to believe is true,” Shurin insisted. “Literature? History? Philosophy? Pfft!! But I guess I do need to know more about what we’ve already developed, if for no other reason than to know what needs improvement.”

“Shuri, what do you think Wakanda’s Chief of Technology does? What their job entails?” T’Chaka asked, his voice lightly curious.

Shuri looked suspicious at the sudden change of tactics. “Well, I’d get to research anything I felt like. I wouldn’t have to answer to anyone else about how my ideas were too ‘new-fangled’ or ‘disrespectful of our people’s traditions’,” she said. Then clearly mocking one of her elders she added, “Isipho is a sacred gift from the Goddess Bast, it is not a toy for you to play with!”

“So you haven’t really considered that our Chief of Technology is responsible for lobbying for their yearly budget?” T’Chaka asked. “That he or she entertains the proposals of all the researchers working under her to determine which merit funding and access to resources?”

“It is one thing to blow off your instructors,” Ramonda added. “You are a brilliant, young girl, some level of arrogance is to expected. But should you be so disrespectful to those bringing their proposals to you, if you are seen as simply using the country’s resources for the things that catch your fancy… Wakanda is a country, not a personal venture, our Chief of Technology must be seen to direct our resources for the good of all our people… Accusations of nepotism and corruption would very quickly begin to dog your heels.”

“But, I wouldn’t,” Shuri started to sound a little crestfallen. “I’m smart enough to know what’s best for everyone.”

T’Chaka shook his head, “If you insult those petitioning you, while in an official position in the government, they will claim that you have, even when it is not true. I do not retain my crown by being blatantly dismissive of my people’s concerns… Even ones I do not personally believe hold merit.” 

Shuri frowned as something else occurred to her, “When does the Chief of Technology get to do their own research?” she asked. “You make it sound like they’re in meetings all day long.”

“In whatever moments they manage to snatch between meetings,” T’Chaka said gravely, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “The Chief of Technology must have a strong science background to command the respect of those under her but it is an administrative position.”

“Hmphf! Well in that case, No Thanks!” Shuri exclaimed. “How about I trade some of my science classes for more independent research time instead?”

“Now perhaps that has merit,” T’Chaka agreed.

“Are you certain you wouldn’t like to lighten your load a bit to allow more time for socializing?” Ramonda asked. “You’ll be noticing the boys shortly.”

Shuri’s face wrinkled up in disgust, “You think I want to make a fool of myself over the opposite sex like T’Challa does whenever Nakia’s around? No thank you! Boys? Ick!” 

“We shall see,” Ramonda replied, trading an amused look with her husband.

* * *

**2016**

Shuri’s eyes widened as her brother returned from his mission to Korea with a stretcher, the patient’s face covered. “T’Challa, my lab isn’t a hospital!” she protested as she flipped back the blanket and saw the American Intelligence Agent.

“You understand my difficulty?” T’Challa asked. 

“You didn’t talk to the council about your latest stray did you?” Shuri tsked. “So, how did you come to owe this one?” 

“He saved Nakia. Can you save him?”

“You know, big brother, it’s cute how you think I can do everything,” Shuri said. “No, I’m not a surgeon. I’m sixteen, I revolutionized our mining industry. When do you think I would have had time to study the human body?”

T’Challa looked crestfallen.

Shuri grinned, “But I’ve got a good friend on the team working on your other stray who is a surgeon.”


	3. It’s Personal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That so many of T’Challa’s policy decisions which come down to “Because it’s personal” doesn’t really under the umbrella of bad communication. But I still want someone to make him acknowledge it… Over and over again. 
> 
> Unlike the rest of “What If” this story has been arranged more thematically then chronologically. So this chapter overlaps with CACW for T’Challa’s initial decision to go chasing after Barnes and his later decision to help Barnes. 
> 
> This chapter was also, originally, going to include T’Challa’s decision to accept Erik’s challenge since it felt like his decision to put Erik in front of the Council was driven by his emotional reaction to discovering that Erik had been wronged by his father (even if it was also a good choice since W’Kabi having N’Jobu’s ring in that scene implies that Erik had already won over the Border Tribe and T’Challa refusing to give Erik and audience might have triggered a rebellion that much earlier). But with Erik being known to Wakanda ahead of time, T’Challa’s personal reason for allowing Erik to get that far is gone, the scene has to play out differently… And I’d add that Ramonda and the Council being surprised by Erik’s identity and N’Jobu’s murder plays into the support Erik’s challenge gains there. So both because it’s a consequence of the change in Ch. 1 and because that scene basically shows why T’Chaka hiding N’Jobu’s murder from the Council was a stupid decision, since all it did was set up T’Challa for Erik’s coup. I’ve posted a new version of rewriting Ch. 1 which includes the challenge scene.

**Justice or Revenge?**

“Move,” T’Challa demanded. “He killed my father and I will have justice.”

“My King, your father would not want this,” Okoye protested. “For thirty years, my W’Kabi asked your father for vengeance on behalf of his parents. And, always, your father counseled prudence. Do not do this. Your father would not want this.”

T’Challa shook his head. “All I can feel is that I understand why W’Kabi continued asking that more effort be put into the hunt for Klaue, that more risks be taken to bring him to justice, even after thirty years of denial. I must do this, Okoye, it’s personal. Now move, as your king, I command you.”

 

* * *

 

**Reparations**

“My son, why have you volunteered Wakanda to oversee Sgt. Barnes’ restoration?” Ramonda asked. “While your father sought to bring us back into the world, it was always through us reaching out, not by inviting Outsiders into our borders.”

“Sgt. Barnes and my father, they were both victims,” T’Challa said gravely. “If I can help one of them find peace…”

“So you help him to assuage the misplaced guilt that you hold for being unable to protect your father?” Romonda asked bluntly.

T’Challa shook his head, “Not that alone. I wronged Barnes when I blamed him for Vienna. And once I regained my head, I offered him sanctuary from those who would use him as a weapons. To forget that promise would be to disregard my personal honor.”

“So what about those poor people in Bucharest who you personally trampled while you were being a dumbass?” Shuri asked, pausing as she passed by in the hall. “Doesn’t your honor demand anything on their behalves? Or is it only people you have had to look in the eye after wronging that your honor gets huffy about?”

“Did no one ever tell you that it is rude to eavesdrop, Shuri?” T’Challa replied frowning.

“It doesn’t change that your sister has a point,” Ramonda said. “Because of your actions the people of Bucharest were harmed. I am sure their leaders feel much as your father felt when our people died in Lagos. And unlike the US government we do not have the option of disowning YOUR actions, my son.”

“I will… Consider what would be appropriate restitutions,” T’Challa offered.

“You also have avoided my question,” Ramonda continued. “Is it truly wise to depart from your father’s policy with so little consideration of the possible impact?”

“I have considered it Mother,” T’Challa insisted. “Barnes is one man, a man wants nothing more that to be left alone. I see little harm in taking him in. Much less than in allowing myself to become a man who does not keep his word.”

“Well, if we’re doing this, I’m collaborating with Doctors Cho and Ross properly,” Shuri interjected, bouncing on her toes. “They’ve already done a ton of work figuring out how to straighten out the other brainwashed HYDRA assassin and I’m sick of playing games with them, hinting around instead of just giving them the papers my colleagues and I have published.”

Ramonda frowned, “Shuri, you are putting another project on your plate? We have other scientists.”

Shuri pouted. “But I know them! We’ve been chatting online for practically forever. Mommmm!!! I wanna go play with my friends.”

“Wouldn’t there be others in the fields of the mind and the body who would be a more fitting choice?” Ramonda asked. “It would do you harm in the long run, should it seem that you’re favored.”

“I know them!” Shuri whined. “I’m totally ready to be a project lead. I’ll help smooth communication between a Wakandan team and S.U.D.D.S. I’ll figure out who we need. So we’ve got to fix his brain, replace that lame HYDRA arm… Um, he’s probably not okay after seventy years of torture, I mean apart from the triggers in his brain, not okay...”

“I suppose it could work. Your skills as a collaborator could always use refinement,” Ramonda considered. “You treat your teammates as the experts in their fields that they are, or I will be having words with you, my daughter.”

* * *

 

**My Friend, My Subject**

Nakia glared at T’Challa once the fight had ended. “Why are you here? You've ruined my mission,” she accused. 

“My father is dead, Nakia,” T’Challa said. “I will be crowned king tomorrow. And I wish for you to be there.”

The irritation in Nakia’s eyes drained away to be replaced with sympathy. She turned to the captives, “Carry yourselves home now.” 

“Thank you,” one of women said, voice full of awe.

 “And take the boy,” Nakia continued. “Get him to his people.”

 “Oh, thank you,” the woman repeated.

 “You will speak nothing of this day,” Nakia ordered.

Okoye snorted. “And there’s another couple dozen rumors about… Us… begun,” she said to T’Challa as the woman promised. 

* * *

 

 

Later, after T’Challa had faced his challenger and been confirmed as Wakanda’s new King, he sought out Nakia before she could leave. “Come home, Nakia,” he asked.

 “I'm right here.”

 “Stay.”

 “I came to support you and to honor your father but I can't stay. And you can’t pull me out of a mission every time you need a friend,” she scolded. “I won’t be able to work like that and I care very deeply about my work out there.”

“I’m only going to be crowned once,” T’Challa assured her. “But what pulls you away from Wakanda? Life as a spy, in the outside world, is a hardship. Haven’t you done your part for Wakanda already?”

Nakia shook her head, “I've seen too many in need just to turn a blind eye. I can't be happy here knowing that there are people out there who have nothing.”

“What good does witnessing it as a spy do?” T’Challa asked. “There is little you can do to affect the injustices you see without revealing Wakanda’s secret.”

“An ivory poacher or fence removed here. A blood diamond mine that mysteriously caves in or floods there.” Nakia shrugged. “If you hadn’t burst in like character from a comic book, that group of militants would have taken me back to their stronghold and they and their allies would have suffered a sudden, inexplicable and fatal ‘illness’ a few days later. Even more of their victims would have been returned home. And without spreading tales of being saved by a Black Panther in the shape of a man.”

“If you stayed here you could persuade the council to do more,” T’Challa suggested. “You could be an advocate for the changes Father has begun, doing more to share what we have. With your experiences as a spy to speak from you could convince the council to provide aid and access to technology and refuge to those who need it. Other countries do it, with you championing this cause we could do it better.”

 “We are not like these other countries,” Nakia said with a grimace. “We’re mired in a status quo where Wakanda sees our safety, our very way of life as being dependent on keeping the secret. King T’Chaka, with a lifetime of service to Wakanda and near universal respect from his countrymen could only persuade the council to offer the world a pittance, a few dozen aid workers pretending to be from a painfully poor third world nation, when we _could_ offer revolutionary advancements in medicine, agriculture, water purification… But we are too afraid to reach out our true hand to our neighbors.”

“Wakanda is strong enough to help others and protect ourselves at the same time,” T’Challa insisted. “I will help you make them see that.”

“They won’t hear what they do not wish to hear. Our comfort gives the status quo too much inertia to be overcome,” Nakia argued shaking her head sadly. “In your council I would be a voice crying out futilely. Out there in the world I may not be able to do much but I _can_ influence what happens right in front of me.”

 T’Challa sighed, “If you were not so stubborn you would make a great queen.”

 “I would make a great queen because I am so stubborn,” Nakia replied tartly.

 “Ah! See, you admit it!” T’Challa pressed.

 “If that's what I wanted,” Nakia declined.

“Is it the crown or the man that you do not want?” T’Challa asked.

Nakia’s shoulders slumped, “You are… important to me T’Challa but… I’m not ready to make a decision about the man right now. And, on that question, I don’t wish to be influenced by considering what I _might_ be able to accomplish politically if I were your queen. _If_ I say yes it will be to the man, not to the crown. For now... I ask you, as my King, do not deny me a next mission and when I leave do not call me back lightly. And next time? Please, do not take a blunt object to my delicate mission when a quiet note from a fellow spy would have done as much good. I could have killed them all in their sleep and left the captives wondering at the their good fortune. I don’t need you showing off for me.”

* * *

 

**Diplomatic Relations**

Everett gave T’Challa look that invited him to consider them allies. “So this is a big mess, huh? I figured we could go good cop, bad cop. I'll talk to him first then you guys go in.”

“We can't let him talk to Klaue alone,” Okoye cautioned T’Challa in Xhosa.

“Better to let him talk to Klaue alone for five minutes than to make a scene here,” T’Challa replied in the same language. Then he turned to Everett. “After your questioning, we will take him back to Wakanda with us,” he declared. His tone suggested that there would be no discussion on that point.

“What? No,” Everett exclaimed. “Look, I like you, a lot. But he's in my custody now. He's not going anywhere.” He slapped T’Challa lightly on the chest. “You realize that Wakanda has no authority here? I’ve done a lot of work through the JCTC to get approval for an operation in Seoul. And you just waltzed in, flashing Nigerian ID’s. I'm doing you guys a favor by letting you even be in here.”

 “If he touches you again, I'm going to impale him to this desk,”Okoye hissed.

“Does she speak English?” Everett asked.

 “When she wants to,” Okoye replied pointedly in English.

“Okay,” Everett remarked. “So you’re making a choice to hold a private conversation in front of me. I still don’t know if it’s State secrets or garden variety rudeness, but hey.” He shrugged carelessly then turned toward the interrogation room where Klaue was being held. “Well, I'm going in. When I'm done, you guys are up.”

“Agent Ross?” T’Challa put a friendly hand on Everett’s shoulder and planted a bug.

“Yeah?”

 “I do appreciate your help in Busan,” T’Challa said.

“You see that?” Everett asked Okoye, missing T’Challa ulterior motive. “It's called diplomacy.” He nodded to T’Challa, “You're welcome.”

On the other side of the glass Klaue began to sing mockingly.

“Okoye,” T’Challa warned switching back to Xhosa as his bodyguard glared angrily at Everett. “Play nice.”

“Americans,”Okoye sneered.

Everett glanced back, “Please, feel free to hold secret conversations in front of me in Korean, German or…” he trailed off with a grin. “Actually, I’ll keep that one under my hat. But get off your high horse because a guy on a mission in Southeast Asia isn’t up on African languages. By the way, I noticed your party has been relying on one individual for communication in the local language and that _she’s_ the one you left in the front room with my Korean contacts.” Then he walked inside the interrogation room and shut the door.

T’Challa gave Okoye a look that said, “You asked for that.”

She grimaced a bit sourly in reply.

Then, uninvited, T’Challa and Okoye listened in as Klaue spelled out the unvarnished truth about Wakanda to a frankly skeptical Everett Ross… Although not skeptical enough for their taste. “Your father told the UN that Klaue stole all the vibranium you had. But now he's telling me you have more?” Everett asked accusingly when he finished with Klaue.

 “And you believe the word of an arms dealer strapped to a chair?” T’Challa replied dismissively.

“Well, I’ve seen your catsuit stop bullets cold and the claws put scratches in Captain America’s vibranium shield so…” Everett began. “How much more are you hiding?”

Nakia ran in before T’Challa could come up with an answer, “Something is happening out back,” she warned in Xhosa a moment before the back wall was blown out and Killmonger stepped through the gap holding a machine gun.

“Get down!” Everett yelled grabbing Nakia and pulling her behind him even as Killmonger opened fire.

The room erupted into chaos. T’Challa activated his suit as a grenade was fired inside. He absorbed the blast but by the time he was back on his feet Killmonger had Klaue. “I see you took your time, didn't you?” The weapons smuggler laughed as his rescuers loaded him in the van, chair and all.

T’Challa gave chase but was thrown back by a well timed blast. “My King! My King,” Okoye cried running after him. “Nakia.” That name was enough to stop T’Challa in his tracks but when they returned to the office it was Everett Ross who’d been shot.

“He just jumped in front of me,” Nakia told her king and former romantic interest. “I don't think he'll make it here. It hit his spine.”

 T’Challa looked from Nakia guilt-stricken expression to Everett, dying right in front of them. “Give me a Kimoyo Bead.” He demanded then pressed the bead into the bullet hole, “This will stabilize him for now.”

 Everett’s colleagues watched in stunned amazement as the agent’s breathing eased. “Well there there’s another rumor to be quashed,” Okoye muttered in Xhosa.

 “Give him to us,” T’Challa told Ross’ fellow Americans. “We can save him.”

* * *

 

 

Once they on their jet and headed back to Wakanda, Okoye voiced her objections more strenuously. “Our mission was to bring back Klaue. We failed. This man is a foreign intelligence operative. How do we justify bringing him into our borders?”

 “He took a bullet for me,” Nakia protested.

“So what? We have stood by for centuries while our neighbors died by the score. We stood by while our continent was plundered of its resources and its peoples,” Okoye pointed out angrily. “Why is he different? Why do we throw away a policy that has protected us from time immemorial for one man’s act of valor?”

“Maybe it’s time,” Nakia snapped. “Maybe it doesn’t matter what the trigger is. Maybe we should have stopped hiding from the world long ago and done what we could to make it a better place for all. You aren’t out there Okoye, you don’t see what I’ve seen.”

“Only a few weeks ago we didn’t offer Kimoyo Beads to help with those injured in the bombing of Vienna,” Okoye argued. “Not even to the Avenger’s Colonel Rhodes who tried to shield our King.”

“I was distracted,” T’Challa started making excuses. “Rhodes was already in their hospital before it occurred to me that I could have helped.”

“Good!” Okoye exclaimed. “Rhodes made a choice, Ross made a choice. A noble choice, to protect one of ours, but still _their_ choice. It was not a choice they had any duty to make. If we let Ross die perhaps the damage you did by showing them the medical applications of the Kimoyo Beads can be mitigated.”

“I think Shuri might have dropped enough hints to her online friends in S.U.D.D.S. to improve their treatments anyway,” T’Challa continued over Okoye. “So we did actually help Rhodes, just more surreptitiously.”

“Good for her,” Nakia said. “Someone should be doing something. As much as we might like to pretend otherwise, Wakanda is part of this world. People are suffering, literally on our doorstep, and we do nothing.”

“So we do more, CAREFULLY,” Okoye growled. “We continue King T’Chaka’s policies, increasing our presence in the world. We let Princess Shuri and our other researchers make more overtures.” She pointed to Ross. “But if we heal him there won’t be any going back. He knows too much already. If we heal him after what Klaue said he will know enough to have no doubt that Klaue spoke true. And he is the agent of a foreign government, it is his duty to report back to his country.” She frowned at T’Challa, “And as king, it is your duty to protect ours.”

 “I'm well aware of my duties, General,” T’Challa said sternly. “But I cannot just let him die. Not when he’s right in front of me. Not when once it’s occured to me that we could save him. Not after he saved Nakia.”

* * *

 

 

**Why Oakland?**

Standing on a broken blacktop basketball court Shuri gave her brother a look, “When you said you would take me to California for the first time… I thought you meant Coachella or Disneyland. Why here?”

“This is where our father killed our uncle,” T’Challa said.

 Shuri noticed a condemned sign on the building T’Challa had indicated. “They're tearing it down. Good.”

 “They are not tearing it down,” T’Challa corrected. “I bought this building and that building and that one over there. This will be the first Wakandan International Outreach Center. Nakia will oversee the social outreach. And you will spearhead the science and information exchange.”

Shuri tilted her head to one side as she examined her older brother, “And we’re going to look to Oakland’s problems first, instead of our next door neighbors, because our Uncle and Killmonger give us a personal connection to this place? We aren’t going to start being a part of the world by trying to heal the wounds Wakanda allowed to be inflicted on our continent when we stood by while colonizers and slavers ran rampant just outside our borders. Or is it just that it’s more fun to show off Wakanda’s accomplishments to a first world nation?”

“I really wish you wouldn’t insist on calling him ‘Killmonger’,” T’Challa sighed.

“You didn’t have to feel the loss and fear Mother and I did after you fell, when Wakanda bowed to that mad man. Do you realize Nakia thought he’d murder Mother and I after you were gone?” Shuri asked angrily. “So I’ll call him whatever I wish and you’d do well to remember that Killmonger was violent, vengeful murderer who adopted a cause to make his personal agenda more palatable to people who didn’t hate our father. Either that or stop evading my question: Is this another personal cause dictating Wakanda’s state policy or are you just eager to show off?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sort of reversed T’Challa and Nakia’s rolls in their conversation. He wants her to stay, so he’s the one talking about how Wakanda could do more for the world. A change in policy is something she’d have a lot more influence over as a queen rather than as a spy. She wants to go, so she’s the one arguing that Wakanda won’t change (instead of wondering if change would be for the worse as T’Challa was doing in cannon). If the policy won’t change, at least she can continue to do a little under the table as a spy. 
> 
> While Okoye is generally great the scene with Ross in Korea annoys me. She’s displaying a lot of attitudes that are associated with US arrogance (She’s in S. Korea solely to pursue her country’s interests. She shows no indication that she speaks Korean. She’s EXTREMELY arrogant about her country’s superiority)... And she then disses Ross for being American. That feels like it deserves being called out. Although maybe it fits the MCU trend where the exVengers like to see their own failings in Tony: Okoye is projecting her own arrogance on Ross.


	4. Conversations that Should Have Happened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Erik burning the Heart-Shaped Herb seems like it should have resulted in more than one woman’s futile protests. When your new leader’s first official act to disassemble the mechanism of succession for your government, you’ve got a dictator on your hands not a leader. What if Trump’s first act as President had been to do away with the impeachment process? “Yeah, you’re not going to need that shit, trust me.” 
> 
> And while single combat as a check and balance on the king’s power in a supposedly advanced society is an issue in and of itself, it’s what Wakanda has. I mean, I’ve heard the argument that the combat was just ritual but it was treated 100% seriously after T’Challa lost and they didn’t show any other mechanism by which the king’s power could be checked. So would anyone with half a brain think that Erik’s going to submit to having the Panther’s power stripped away to fight a challenger on even ground if he can’t restore it afterwards? By implication Erik also stripped away Wakanda’s checks on the king’s power when he burned the Heart Shaped Herb. I know it’s a lack of time in the movie but really there should be more of a reaction than “You can’t! It’s tradition!” …Well if you’re going to get violent about it, I guess we must.
> 
> All of Erik's supporters at that point are Wakandan. Even if they wanted the war of aggression with the rest of the world, the dismantling of their government should have given them the heebie-jeebies.

**Just a Thug**

The whispers spread with unmatched speed. The new king, the outsider king, had burned the Heart-Shape Herbs. N’Jadaka, son of Prince N’Jobu- No, Erik Stevens, the American black operative had said there would be no Wakandan Kings, no new Black Panther after him. The whispers flew.

While the smoke still drifted through the corridors, wafting up from the smoldering scared gardens, the elder of the Mining Tribe fell into step beside her opposite in the Border Tribe. Resting a hand on his elbow she subtly steered him toward Council Hall. The blinds were drawn leaving the room in shadows, the throne stood empty, the chairs that would normally flank it pushed back to the walls. The Elders of the River and Merchant Tribes were already waiting for them. “We assemble behind our newly crowned king’s back?” the Elder of the Border Tribe asked mildly.

“You spoke in support of him, of a war of conquest against the outside world, but the Heart-Shape Herb does not grant immortality,” the Elder of the Mining Tribe replied. “In twenty years his strength will have begun to wane, in fifty years there will be no Black Panther to protect Wakanda. What future does Wakanda have under a King who sees nothing beyond his own life span?”

The Elder of the Border Tribe shook his head. “He spoke truth when he said that the world is becoming smaller, that the outsiders are beginning to catch up. If we do not do this now, we will soon be at their mercy and the history of this continent demonstrates, vividly, how that ends.”

“You agree with him _now_ ,” the Merchant Tribe Elder hissed. “But what happens when you do not? Will he allow the strength of the Panther to be stripped away from him so that equal challenge may be fought? When that blessing cannot be granted again? Or will your champion, any of our champions, be expected to fight against the Panther’s strength? Even under those conditions will he take challenge? Or will he kill them out of hand? What did he say when the priestess dared question his order to throw away our tradition, our future and burn the Heart-Shape Herb? ‘When I tell you to do something, I mean that shit,’ as he laid violent hands on her. This Erik Stevens is no king, just a thug. He used our traditions to his advantage and now he discards them like trash.”

The Elder of the Border Tribe nodded reluctantly. “When Wakanda is unassailable,” he suggested. “Then we deal with this Killmonger. Even with the Heart-Shaped Herb he is one man, if he will not accept honorable challenge… Then there is no reason for us to offer him challenge. If he proves himself a tyrant, then he will be dealt with as such.”

“As you say,” the Elder of the River Tribe agreed and the meeting broke up with as little fanfare as it had begun.

The Elder of the Mining Tribe lingered as the others dispersed. She glanced toward a deeper patch of shadows. “You are of the Border Tribe General, do you trust your Elder’s intent?”

Okoye stepped out of the shadows. She shook her head, “I do not. He is afraid. All of Wakanda’s tribes pride themselves on their warrior heritage but the Border Tribe only has that as a source of pride. I think N’Jadaka’s words of a war of aggression hold too much appeal for those who have been held to a defensive position for their entire lives, even in the face of an attack such as Klaue’s.”

“When the time comes, where will the Dora Milaje stand?” the Elder asked.

“Where we have always stood: With Wakanda,” Okoye replied.

“And Erik Stevens?”

“Is not Wakanda,” Okoye said flatly. “His eyes are fixed on his own gain, not Wakanda’s future. Burning the Sacred Gardens proved that.”

* * *

 

**Don’t Worry About It**

“So you’re the one that invented that remote thing?” Everett asked Shuri after everything had settled down and T’Challa was back on the throne.

“Yep, pretty cool right?” Shuri said with a grin.

“Very cool,” Everett agreed. “But, do you mind some feedback?”

“I’m all ears,” Shuri replied.

“The sensors were incredible when I was flying, practically like being there,” Everett said. “But apparently they lack a little when the vehicle isn’t Wakandan. The guy in Korea drove right over one of Klaue’s men and I don’t even think he realized what had happened.”

“What happened to the guy, the one who was run down?” Shuri asked in a choked voice.

“He died before we got Klaue into interrogation,” Everett said casually. “For the best really, there wasn’t much left of his face except hamburger.”

Shuri gulped and ran out of the room. 

* * *

 

 

“Don’t worry about it?” Shuri exclaimed marching up to T’Challa and punching him in the chest. “I run over someone and you tell me: ‘Don’t worry about it’?”

“He was just like one of Klaue’s men,” T’Challa protested. “I didn’t want you to become distracted. We were in the midst of battle.”

“Arrrg!” Shuri screamed. She punched T’Challa again. “I am either too young to be your backup or I am old enough to be informed of the consequences of my actions. You cannot have it both ways! You cannot make me part of the fight then turn around and act as if I need you to shelter me from reality!”

“So which do you choose?” T’Challa asked.

* * *

 

 

“Why are brothers such a pain?” Shuri demanded standing on her balcony staring out at the moon and stars.

On the other side of the globe Tony Stark leaned back in his chair, “I hear it’s in the job description or something.”

“T’Challa works over time then,” Shuri groused.

“What did you say?” Tony asked rather than wait to hear more about how irritating Shuri’s older brother could be.

“I told him he needed to find someone he respected as an adult to be his backup,” Shuri said archly. Without waiting for Tony to respond she continued, speaking faster and faster as she went on. “He’s the one who made it into a big deal when he hid it from me. It’s nothing. That guy, he was just one of Klaue’s minions. He was no different from the men who came to my country thirty years ago and killed my people. He was the bad guy, it’s not big deal that I- I only did what I was supposed to. What any Wakandan warrior would do. T’Challa-”

“It’s what? Two am over there?” Tony broke in. “And you’re on the phone with me just because T’Challa treated you like a kid?”

Shuri went silent.

Tony bit his tongue and hoped patience wasn’t Shuri’s thing because it certainly wasn’t his.

“I threw up. Twice,” Shuri confessed. “Right after I found out. And- I- tonight- I- I was in front of the Council and he walked up to me, face ground off and- I woke up and- and- Maybe T’Challa was right not to tell me, maybe I couldn’t have handled it. But- Wakanda is a warrior nation and I can’t sleep because I killed one of our enemies!”

“I suppose it doesn’t help if I say I like you better for being bothered by it?” Tony asked.

“You’re not Wakandan,” Shuri replied.

“Nope,” Tony agreed. “I’m not a soldier, not a warrior either. I’m an engineer, I take pride in what I _build_.”

“Killmonger wore my armor when he fought us the second time,” Shuri said. “I didn’t hesitate when I took the shot at him. It wasn’t enough, not when he had MY ARMOR on, but I didn’t hesitate. I would have killed him if I could. But the other one, I didn’t know him, I didn’t even know he was there, he could have been someone just crossing the street and I wouldn’t have known. And T’Challa wouldn’t have told me, I don’t think.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed in complete understanding. “Say Shuri, when you and your team are here trading notes on reversing HYDRA brainwashing with Helen and Betty why don’t you come train with my brats? We’re focusing on working with the police, capture not kill, if you think you can handle that,” he offered.

“Maybe I will,” Shuri said.


End file.
